//------------------------------// // A Purrty Starry Night // Story: Beyond My Grave: Nightlight // by AnnEldest //------------------------------// The moon hung low over the land. The reflected sunlight watched over all who slept, as they drifted off in their dreams. The cool desert air swept across the dunes as sand was flourished into the air. Luna watched as the cloudless night settled over her. The ocean of stars covered her like a blanket. “You really know how to drive this thing pretty well.” Capper’s calm and standing voice broke the princess of her trance. “Ya, I’ve had a lot of practice driving them.” “Well it beats walking threw the dessert any day.” Capper leaned over the seat and stared out to the dark and chilled sandy dunes. “I’ve done plenty of that in my time.” Luna chuckled in response. “How are you holding up anyway?” Capper’s calming yet stern voice took command as he hovered over the Lunar princess. “I’m fine, why?” Capper walked up the passenger seat and sat beside her. “I just know that all of this was thrown at you so suddenly.” “Trust me, I’ve actually gotten used to it.” Luna looked back to see that they were the only ones awake. Big Mac’s deep rumble of a snore shook the entire wagon. “I’ve seen the worst of this crap.” “Ya, so I’ve heard. Spike told me about some of the messed up stuff you’ve been through.” “Ya? What did he tell you?” “Eh, just something about helping Princess Cadence from a pissed off mother spirit and helped stop the ghost of a murderer.” Capper gave a smile as he waited for her response. “Yup, that sounds about right,” Luna said as she nodded with approval. “How are you doing with all of this?” “Are you kidding me?” Capper puffed out his chest as he made a pose with his hips. “You do know I was there ‘Ally cat’, who helped save Equestria.” “Oh, I had no idea. Please tell me more about your greatness.” “I just solo saved the entire land by bravely facing the epic forces of darkness. One cat, against the army of evil…” “And a lovely, quite awesome, Starry Night Terror had nothing to do with it?” Capper dropped his pose as he stretched out. “Wellll, she may have had some involvement, but clearly Ally Cat carried the team.” “You’re soooo full of it,” Luna laughed. “What do you mean?” Capper chuckled. “I was pretty much carrying the entire team. I feel like taking all the credit is me being pretty modest.” “Shut up.” Luna lightly punched the cat in the arm. “You’re such an ass.” The two exchanged laughs as Capper returned to punch. “No, but this really is something different.” Capper’s grin dropped as the daunting thought started to crept back into his mind. “We are really in over our heads with this one.” “Well, that’s exactly what I thought last time too; we managed to pull that one-off.” Capper leaned over his seat and grabbed his scabbard from the back seat. He carefully drew the sword and sat back down. “Ya, but this, these things, seem so much worse than Eris. They kill without mercy and hesitation.” “You don’t think Eris wouldn’t have?” Luna asked as she stared at the golden sword. Capper focused on his reflection as the moonlight refracted off of its sharp golden light. “I honestly don’t know, but I know she wouldn’t like this. She had a conscious, and a person to help her. These things just don’t care. Adults, children to babies; they’ll kill anything.” Luna stared back at the sand in front of her. She sighed as her mind called back to her encounter with the Fallen at Barry Blast’s house. The very presence of the creature nearly sent her mind into shock. Her mind trembled at the feeling of the energy it gathered. The power was dark, cold, and felt like an abyss of empty tyranny. She really didn’t fight the thing, she was just lucky to have survived it. Maybe I should have warned Celestia. “What are they?” Luna looked over to Capper as he continued to stare at the sword. “Arch was pretty quick to correct me when I called them demons.” “They’re an ancient army that was built to conquer the living realm.” Capper looked up from his sword. “They were made by Shader, the king of pain and misery.” Capper looked to Luna as her eyes went wide open. “They feed on everything and anything, and obviously they can’t be killed in…traditional ways.” Luna looked back at the road as her mind race. Shader!? Her mind pondered on it. “This sword is the only way to unlock the secrets we need to seal them up again.” “Again?” “Ya.” “Well, how’d they get out in the first place?” Capper paused for a moment as he realized that he didn’t have the answer to the question. “I honestly don’t know.” “What, your friend didn’t happen to tell you?” “No, he didn’t.” “Well ain’t that a shame,” Luna scoffed. “He’s not my friend by the way,” Capper corrected. Luna turned to meet Capper’s sharp gaze. “That’s a bit harsh don’t you think? “What no?“ Capper purred. “He’s my uncle.” Luna froze in place as her mind processed what she had just heard. She locked gazes with Capper’s smiling gaze. She looked for any signs of hesitation or motives to lie, but his smile stayed firm. “Are you serious?” “Yup.” Luna broke her gaze away from his as she started to laugh once more. “Wow, that’s quite the development.” Luna started slowly shaking her head. “Dang, having a hard time wrapping my head around that one.” “Ya tell me about it. How do you think I feel?” “But...like, how?” Capper flipped his sword around as he thought about the question himself. “Once again, I really don’t know.” “But he like knew your parents and stuff?” Luna nearly jumped in her seat. “Well I mean it was his brother so..” “And...what did he say about him?” Capper took a second to think about the question. “Not a whole lot really, just that he was killed along with my mother.” “Oh, so they are really gone.” Luna sighed. “Ya.” Capper’s eyes fell to the sword. “How?” “I don’t know,” Capper hissed. “All he said was that someone killed them.” “Wait, what?” Luna gasped. “Ya.” “By who?” “I also don’t know the answer to that question,” Capper hissed. “Then what do you know?” Luna sarcastically scoffed. “Not much to be honest,” Capped chuckled. Luna paused for a moment as she thought about all the questions that were laid before her. She then thought about how many questions the orphan must have had. “You sure you’re up for this?” “Are you?” the cat shot back. “Ha, you kidding me? Anything is better than telling my sister about any of this.” Capper looked up at the princess and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t get it, why are you so against telling your own sister about any of this?” Luna only shook her head in response. “But like, this is a pretty serious situation you know that. You might have to tell her in order to sa…” “I know that,” Luna groaned. “Look, it’s not that easy.” Luna sighed as she leaned her head against her hoof. “You really don’t think she’ll believe you?” “I don’t know,” Luna sighed. “She’ll probably think I’m crazy.” “What makes you say that?” The silence was his only response. The cat watched with curious eyes as the princess’s eyes trailed off into thought. She was thinking of the answer, but she wasn’t going to reveal it. “Wait, what did you tell her?” “What do you mean?” She asked as she glanced over to him. “Well, you’re going to be gone for a while without any contact or any way to help out with your duties. So what did you tell Celestia you were doing?” Luna sat up straight as she realized a strong fact. “Actually, I really didn’t tell her anything.” “For real?” “Ya, I kind of just left, and last she knew I was checking out a series of monster attacks happening at night.” Luna rubbed the back of the head as she realized her conclusion. “She’s probably going to be pretty mad when I get back” Capper nodded in agreement. “Well, I guess it best not telling her, right?” Capper looked over at the princess with a devious smirk. “Hey, I haven’t told my sister a lot of things,” the princess snapped. “She isn’t my parent you know?” “Wait, what else haven’t you told her?” Capper leaned forward in interest. “Well for one: she has no idea that I’m a psychic….” Luna stopped as she realized that she hadn’t told the cat either. “You’re a psychic!?” Capper nearly yelled. “Oh ya, forgot I didn’t mention that.” Luna slapped her forehead in regret. “I’m sorry, I don’t like to tell anyone.” “What? No, you’re fine,” Capper assured. “I mean I’m a guardian so it’s all good here.” Capper put his sword back as he pondered on the thought of a psychic, “Why don’t you like telling anyone about that? I mean that’s pretty cool if you ask me.” Luna shrugged. “I don’t know; I just prefer to keep it to myself.” “I understand,” Capper chuckled. Luna shot the cat a quick glance in surprise. “Ohhh…” “What? It’s cool, I get it.” Capper stretched out as he turned around to put the sword back on the seat behind him. “It’s not like I’m going around telling everyone that I’m a guardian.” “Ya but yours is actually cool,” Luna interjected. “Oh really, this is about coolness?” Capper smiled as he held back a small laugh. “Well guardians are protectors, they’re, you know, ‘cool’.” “Ah yes, and being a badass psychic isn’t at all cool.” Capper leaned towards Luna with a large smirk on his face. “You’re right, it isn’t.” “Shut up, it is,” Capper said as he gave the princess a light shove. “You shut up, no it isn’t,” she protested as she returned the shove. “You can see the dead and can manipulate them, how is that not cool?” “More like crazy if you ask me.” Capper stood up as he yawned. “Whatever, their still pretty cool if you ask me.” Luna just laughed as she watched the cat walk to the back seat. “A guardian is still cooler.” “Perhaps,” the cat agreed. “But doesn’t mean that a psychic isn’t cool either.” Capper laid down on the seat and curled up into a ball. “You should stop for the night.” “I’m always up through the night.” Luna pointed up to the moon. “Princess of the night?” “Ya ya, I get it, but you should still try to rest a little. We’ve got a long way to go and you’ll be needing the rest.” Luna sighed as she rolled her eyes. She turned back to see her moon gracefully skimming the horizon. She gently stopped the wagon and turned the engine off. She leaned back in her seat and stared up at the stars. Her mind started to search through the conversation she had with the cat. She thought it was interesting how they both had questions they didn’t particularly have answers to. She thought about her abilities. For most of her life, it was a curse, something that made her a freak. She was different from others around her, and everyone made it seem like a bad thing. She had never really seen her powers as ‘cool’ or amazing in any way. Sure she was aware that she could help ponies with them and she did help Cadence, but it was never anything she could show off or brag about. Capper seemed to wear his gift as a badge and the princess wondered what it would feel like to do the same. Perhaps for one night, she could pretend that she was a cool pony with a cool power that no one else had. She could show it off to Equestria and everyone would be jealous and wish they had her powers. She started to close her eyes with a smile on her face. The intoxicating thought flooded her mind. Her eyes dozed off with one remaining thought: She really was a badass psychic.